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Puff Pastry. Subsituting Shorting For Butter

Puff Pastry. Subsituting Shorting For Butter

I've just started to make rough puff pastry (haven't tried the real thing yet!) and I'm reasonably satisfied with my results.

However I was reading in a copy of 'Professional Baking 4th Edition,' that:

Butter is the preferred fat for rolling in because of its flavor and melt-inthe-mouth quality. Special puff pastry shortening is also available. Thisshortening is easier to work because it is not as hard when refrigerated andbecause it doesn’t soften and melt at warm temperatures as easily as butterdoes. It is also less expensive than butter.

Is this special puff pastry shortenig available in the main UK supermarkets and if so what name does it go under? I'd be interested in trying it out just to see what the difference is.

Only butter tastes like butter. Puff pastry contains so few ingredients (flour, butter, water, salt), so if you're going to the trouble to make it yourself, you should use the absolute best ingredients you can find.

Butter melts at a temperature a few degrees lower than body temperature. Shortening melts a few degrees higher than body temperature. That's why when you eat something made with shortening it makes your mouth and tongue feel like they're coated with a waxy film. When you eat something made with butter it literally melts in your mouth. And the difference in flavor between the two isn't even close.

The book you reference (I own a copy) is aimed at professionals, i.e. people with businesses to run who need to make profits. The only reason professionals and commercial bakeries use shortening is because it costs a lot less than butter.

Hi guys and thanks for the replies.Of course I intend to stick with butter, we make lovely butter here in Ireland, I'll stick my neck out and say the best in Europe.My main reason for asking about the puff pastry shortening was just that I wanted to see what it turned out like, it's my inquisitive nature!Kevin

Butter is best as we know...but ...I have had good results with lard. I know...yuck. I would never suggest this for croissants but is is quite nice for your more savory things like Cornish pasties, or meat pies.

As far as I understand the reason butter is used is because it creates the "Puff" in puff pastry. When you make puff pastry you have many layers of dough and butter. When you bake puff pastry in the oven, the water portion of the butter escapes as steam and pushes the layers up. Using shortening instead of butter would probably create something that isn't puff pastry :).

Shortening isn't an evil thing as long as you use non-hydrogenated versions. Plant based would be palm shortening, animal based would be free range lard. Stay away from Crisco.

Aside from cost, the other reason that commercial bakers use shortening is that it remains solid at a wider range of temperatures than butter, so it is more foolproof. Focus your energy on temperature control, which is everything in working with butter, and you will have the satisfaction of gaining a sense of mastery and skill, as well as a delicious, rewarding puff pastry.

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